State suffers increase in job losses

LYNN – Massachusetts suffered another round of significant job losses during June but the downward slide was buffeted on the North Shore through the creation of at least 600 temporary summer jobs for teens.”All kids need to work and this summer lots of them are having a very hard time finding a job,” said Mary Sarris, executive director of the North Shore Workforce Investment Board. “One of the first things we did this summer was to create 600 jobs for teens, mostly at-risk kids who are eligible for the funding. This is an amazing opportunity to get these kids working at a time when their parents themselves might be out of work. It might allow them to contribute to the household income or at least not be a drain.”Most of the summer jobs are with private businesses or non-profit organizations, Sarris said.The state Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development reported Thursday that the unemployment rate in Massachusetts rose to 8.6 percent with 2,300 jobs lost in June.Despite the losses, the state showed a net job gain of 3,300 over the previous two months.According to the state labor office, the job gain for May, originally reported as 4,900, was revised to 5,600. The most evident gains occurred in the fields of education, health services and leisure and hospitality. The largest declines were reported in government and in the construction and manufacturing industries.Some job categories were particularly hard hit over the past year. For example, unemployment claims among architects and engineers on the North Shore increased by 220 percent from May 2008 to May 2009.During the same period, claims by company managers increased 130 percent; and by finance and insurance industry employees 104 percent.The largest increase in actual number of unemployment claimants occurred in management, where during the May-to-May period the total increased from 50,182 to 81,255.The most recent statistics for Massachusetts show that jobs are down by 106,400 or 3.2 percent from a year ago, according to Alison Harris, a spokeswoman for the labor office.”Sooner or later we are going to run out of jobs to lose,” said Sarris, noting that government stimulus monies have allowed many North Shore residents to enroll in job-training programs. “These people have vouchers and they enroll in programs like those at North Shore Community College (NSCC) and Salem State College (SSC). There are several programs from truck driver training and certified nurses aid to IT and Web design. These people are wisely spending their time improving their skills and getting ready for the next opportunity to come their way.”According to Sarris, the regional Workforce Investment Board places 50-70 people in training programs each money. “It’s working, but eventually we’re going to run out of money,” she said.Meanwhile, new job-training programs are getting underway at NSCC and SSC where government stimulus funds pay for two training programs linked to the so-called Green Jobs Initiative, building analyst and envelope specialist – jobs that assess such things as weatherization and energy efficiency in building construction or rehabilitation.At SSC, another program trains students to use GIS technology, much in demand by communities seeking to acquire and assess data on property assessments, draft master plans, examine infrastructure and other physical variables.The bottom line in terms of the state’s labor force overview is as follows: The Massachusetts labor force declined by 9,700 during June, with 23,300 fewer Massachusetts residents employed and 13,600 more unemployed.At 3,420,200 the labor force is down 3,900 from June 2008.The national unemployment rate for June was 9.5 percent, compared to 8.6 in Massachusetts.